Insanely textured and endlessly interesting, the newest release from MADLIB, Sound Ancestors, wraps you in a warm blanket of audio bliss and keeps you feeling like a summer breeze all the way through.
The bass frequencies pop no matter your method of listening – although a pair of headphones or decent bookshelf speakers would no doubt make the record glimmer even more, I found myself listening on a hotel bluetooth speaker. A tight mixture of tracks with a heavy bass kick and some with little to no bass make for a great experience. And that makes no mention of the very acoustic sounding bass guitar.
The mid and high frequencies shine through in a classically Madlib mixture of instrumentation, featuring flutes, electric piano, and clattering hi-hats, and samples of talking, singing and lounge ambience.
As I was listening to this album I recognised influences from jazz (including Madlib’s own Shades of Blue), hip-hop, and nuanced sounds that turn ‘bedroom producer’ into music history legend – jumpy, carefree beats and professional use of swing turning machine music organic.
A very enjoyable listen and no doubt a great addition to any crate digger’s crate or digital aficianado’s playlist.
Click here to stream and buy via bandcamp
And an extra of favorite collaborator Freddie Gibbs rapping over some instrumentals in an uber: